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January 07, 2010

Jones Day, Skadden Lead Deals Market (such as it is)

While deals are half what they were in 2007, Jones Day and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom continue to lead the ranks of firms in what’s left of the M&A space.

Jones Day sealed 164 deals, the highest number of deals in 2009 (.pdf), according to MergerMarket. The total value of those deals was $21 million.

Skadden led in terms of value, with $290 million worth of deals sealed across 127 transactions.

MergerMarket reported that overall deal value in 2009 was down 7 percent from 2008, while deal volume dropped 25 percent. Both metrics are down by almost half from their 2007 levels.

The fourth quarter of 2009 was the strongest of the year, with $223 billion worth of deals completed in North America. Zusha Elinson noted in today’s Recorder that deals are coming back, but so are regulators.

"From a purely legal perspective, that's one of the more important things to be watching in 2010," Kenton King, a veteran Palo Alto dealmaker with Skadden, told him. "When you do these deals, certainty of closing and regulatory issues are in the forefront of the minds of people on the board level."